KAREN WOODSArtist Statement

“I do think the big problem in a way…is how you deal with ordinary life—that is not extraordinary, that does not involve heroism, that does not involve crises, really. But the way in we live is meaningful, and it does have a certain radiance.” - John Updike

For some time now I have chronicled my journey by painting what I experience while driving around the city. I paint—in the realist tradition—from photographs taken at intersections and on the road, when I’ve been struck by the beauty in the ordinariness of my commute. These images are the “lyrical suggestions” that compel me to paint, to communicate these transcendent experiences so clearly that others might in turn recognize this beauty in the course of their day.

For myself, the reward lies in capturing and expanding the space, time, and movement of a moment in everyday life, and to reveal its accompanying emotional weight: its anticipation, reflection, isolation, longing, and transcendence.